An annual pagoda festival at Bay Ngar Rar Mountain near Yoke Tayoke Village in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township will not be held this year due to ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), according to the pagoda board of trustees.
The pagoda festival is held annually on the Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone, but the event will not be organised this year because of ongoing fighting and an increasing number of displaced people in Arakan State, said the chairman of the pagoda board of trustees, U Ba Htay.
“We are not holding the festival mainly because of regional instability. We don’t want to organise festivities amid instability. We have concerns about the political and military situation. We will only organise a paritta recitation,” he said.
The festival is celebrated annually by locals from 17 villages in Ponnagyun Township. Locals say it is customary for them to climb the 3,600-foot-high mountain and visit the hilltop pagoda on the Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone, and many plan to do the same this year.
“Whether the festival is held or not, we will definitely climb the mountain on the Full Moon Day as usual. But this year will not be crowded like last year,” said Ma Cho Cho, a resident of Yoe Tayoke Village.
The festival could not be held from 2018 to 2020 due to fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army. The festival was held last year as relative peace prevailed in Arakan State. But as renewed fighting broke out in August, the pagoda board of trustees again decided not to organise the festival this year out of security concerns.
“Some 1,000 people came last year because it was relatively calm,” said U Ba Htay. “Music and entertainment shows were also organised, and people enjoyed the festival. We are not organising a festival this year, but I think people will come and climb the mountain. We won’t organise fundraising events either. We will clean the pagoda [ahead of the Full Moon Day]. Last year, we provided accommodation for visitors, but we won’t this year.”
The Myanmar military and Arakan Army are currently engaged in active fighting in Arakan State’s Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Minbya, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun townships, as well as in neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State.
